Phylicia Masonheimer delves into the historical heresy of Arianism, which denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ, highlighting its unexpected resurgence in the theologies of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Latter-Day Saints. You’ll explore a detailed examination of how these groups subtly alter biblical scripture and reinterpret key passages to portray Jesus as a created being, rather than co-equal with God.
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Transcription
Ideologies never stay separate from our real lives. They emerge and they touch us in every single way. And this is why it’s so important to be able to discern them and to think through them with patience and critical thinking and the wisdom of the holy spirit. Because these things are not neutral and they never just stay and are nice little spiritual boxes. They are going to come out elsewhere. Hello friends. I’mPhylicia Masonheimer, founder of Every Woman a Theologian, and welcome to Verity podcast. We are beginning a new series on understanding and discerning false teaching.
And through this series, we’re going to look at some of the ancient heresies, the ancient false teachings that are now recirculating in a completely brand new package. We’re gonna look at how Christians in church history dealt with these particular teachings and allow that to guide us in how we can discern through them today. And so in this episode, we’re going to look at the very first false teaching of the early church that really caused a massive controversy among those early believers. Now, of course, there were other false teachings other than this one including gnosticism, which we’re going to look at in the episode as well as some of the ancient pagan religions like the Roman religion as well as some mystery cults. We’ll look at those two eventually. But for now, we’re going to focus on the first great controversy that the church faced and this led to what we know today as the Nicene Council and the Nicene Creed. And you’ll see how that happened, how we got this famous creed that we still say in church today out of this era of battling a false teaching. But let’s start with what it is.
It’s called Arianism, a-r-i-a-a-n-i-s-m. It’s named for its founder, a man named Arias. So let’s find out a little bit of who Arias was, what he was teaching, and why it was so problematic for the early church. So a little bit about Arius himself first. So Arius was actually a very charismatic and compelling teacher. He was popular. He was extremely intelligent. And his argument was really developed more out of logic and reason than it was from what Jesus had actually said about him testified.
Fuller Seminary has an article about Arius and about Arianism, and I’ll be pulling from some of their materials as I share this with you. Arius was a popular priest in Alexandria. That’s where he lived. Alexandria was in Egypt. You might know the city of Alexandria from another early church father, Athanasius. And Athanasius also played a significant role in the development of the Nicene Creed. Athanasius and Arius were almost like two polar opposites that were warring over this issue of the nature of Jesus and the nature of the trinity. So Arius as a teacher in Alexandria began to kind of develop this new idea about the person and the nature of Christ.
At this time, Jesus was well known. We’ve got about three hundred years of development in the church at this point. Christianity is growing and it’s growing so fast fast that the Roman Empire is actually threatened by its growth. If you’ve listened to my series on early church history, you can go back on Verity podcast to listen to that those eight episodes. And I talk about this era of history and how at that time the Roman government was extremely threatened by Christianity because they perceived it as undermining the unity of the empire. They were perfectly fine with mystery cult religions that blended Egyptian mythology and Babylonian mythology and the Roman pantheon, they were fine with all of that as long as you did two things. You didn’t disrupt the unity of the empire and you were willing to burn incense to the emperor who was the ultimate god of the empire. If you would not do those two things, then red flag, you’re upsetting the peace of the empire.
And for quite some time in the first century, Christians were seen as just a sub sect of Judaism. But once the Romans realized that the Jews wanted nothing to do with the Christians and that Christianity actually wasn’t a part of Judaism, which happened very early before 100, you saw the attention of the Roman government suddenly turn on the Christians. So at first Christianity was persecuted by religious zealous Jews and then eventually they were persecuted by the Romans. Once the Romans realized, oh wait a minute, these are not Jewish believers who would be under protection of religious freedoms. These are a whole different sect of people and so they started to persecute them. And as the centuries unfolded you saw more and more persecution as well as more and more growth of Christianity. As always though with the growth of Christianity comes the danger that it can be twisted and that began to happen. So Arius begins to teach that Jesus was a created being and is the firstborn of creation.
We’re going to look at that passage in a second. And because he’s the firstborn of creation that means he can’t possibly be eternal. So he came up with this idea that there was a time when Christ was not. So basically there was a time in history when Christ did not exist. God has existed the father but Christ did not exist which means that he’s not actually equal with God in divinity and this was a very big deal. It became such a popular viewpoint and so hotly debated that church father Gregory of Nisa says that you couldn’t even go to the marketplace without hearing about these ideas. I want to draw a little parallel for you in terms of how false teachings gain traction and how you might see this kind of traction spread into the world. A couple of months ago, my daughter and I were at a a city out of town visiting Trader Joe’s.
We made a pilgrimage to Trader Joe’s. And while we were there checking out, the cashier noticed that my daughter had a rainbow on her shirt and the rainbows were kind of shaped like crystals. It was like a little like a blast of different colors on her shirt. And the cashier was really excited and she said, do you know what that is? What the what the pink color in your rainbow is? And my daughter didn’t know. So the cashier pointed to her earring and said, this is what it is. This is a, an amethyst is what she said it was, which I think is purple. But in this case, it was pink. She said it’s an amethyst, and she began to tell my daughter all of the different health benefits and powers of that particular crystal.
This ideology, this belief that this sweet cashier had is a religious ideology. She believes that her crystals which she collected were giving her some kind of spiritual, emotional and physical benefit. And there in the marketplace, we were talking about this ideology. Just as in the first century, Arianism spread and very quickly was adopted as a false teaching. People were talking about it when they were in their version of Trader Joe’s. Ideologies never stay separate from our real lives. They emerge and they touch us in every single way. And this is why it’s so important to be able to discern them and to think through them with patience and critical thinking and the wisdom of the holy spirit, because these things are not neutral and they never just stay in our nice little spiritual boxes.
They are going to come out elsewhere. So let’s go back to what was happening with these Arian teachings. Arius is teaching this. He’s growing more popular and people are starting to think that, oh, maybe that’s a good point. You know, the Bible does say that Jesus is the firstborn over creation. The apostle Paul is the one who said it. And so if you’re firstborn, well, that means that you’re born. So that means that you must be created.
You can’t possibly be equal with God. And our first flaw here, a flaw that almost always exposes false teaching, is taking one verse and building an argument off of that verse without context. You’ve heard me say this before and I don’t remember who came up with this phrase, but a text without a context is a con. Whenever we take a verse and we build an argument without its context, without cross referencing it, with the other things that have been said about the topic, we are in great danger of coming up with a theological idea that is not actually grounded in history, reason, truth, or scripture. In the early church, the Christians maintained that Christ was truly the son and truly God. They worshiped him as divine and they would never have separated him from the father. They would never have said, oh look, he’s something else, a different essence, a different level, from the father. And so even though a lot of this wasn’t defined, so a lot of these things were not expressly written out, this false teaching, Arianism, forced the church to begin to write it out, to begin to address the issues that they were facing.
And so when they looked at scripture, you know, looked at the gospels and how things were written, looked at the epistles, there are these different words that are used to describe how Jesus is united with God. Things like essence, substance, nature and person. And this is taken from a new advent of a Catholic source. So with these different words that are used by the new testament authors it means that there are certain philosophers and teachers who were taking those and kind of building their own definitions out from what Paul and other apostles had written. So using those Greek terms, Arius denied that the sun was of one essence nature or substance with God. So he is not consubstantial with God. So he’s not equal in dignity or co eternal or any of those things. Whereas when we read in John one, it’s fascinating to see how the apostle John definitely thought that Jesus was.
It says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, not and without him nothing was made that has been made. And this is an argument for the deity of Christ, from the Apostle John. And this was definitely something that Arius disagreed with. So Arius denied the deity of the Son of God and said that Jesus was instead created by God. He was the first act of creation. He was the very first thing he made and so he wasn’t the same as God, but he is very very powerful, and has divine elements.
This again goes back to that firstborn quote and this is, Romans eight twenty nine which says that Christ is the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. So the Arians took this to mean that Jesus was a creation of God as the firstborn. But in John eight fifty eight and John ten thirty, Jesus declares that he is eternal. And when we look at the description that’s being used here, when we look at how Paul is using the word, firstborn, he’s referring back to the Jewish context for the firstborn. The firstborn is the heir. The firstborn is the leader, the head of the family. All of those things are imagery that are used for Jesus elsewhere. We it says that we are coheirs with Christ.
Why? Because he is the firstborn. He is the second Adam. Adam was the firstborn of the human race. Jesus came in human flesh not being a sub creation of God, but God taking on human flesh born through a woman to become the firstborn, the firstborn redeeming the original firstborn, redeeming what Adam did, the second Adam. And so saying he’s the firstborn of creation doesn’t mean that he was created second to God or that that that God made him first before humans but that Jesus as the son of God, one with God, is God but who took on that human flesh to redeem what the firstborn Adam had undone. It also means that he receives high honor. So Genesis forty nine three, Exodus eleven five, numbers three forty, they’re all talking about this concept of the firstborn son. Jesus is the firstborn, the heir of all things.
And because of this, we because of his sacrifice, we also inherit what he inherits. Now you might be wondering, well, okay. So this is a false teaching back in the, you know, February. It was growing at that time, but, like, how does this actually affect me today? Well, would you believe me if I told you that this teaching is actually very popular today? It is still being circulated. People still believe this. And most of the time, this theology is found in two traditions, Jehovah’s Witness and Latter day Saints. These two particular groups hold to a view of Jesus deity that is extremely close to Arianism. In fact, it’s so close to Arianism that in the Jehovah’s Witness view of theology, they actually believe that his being the firstborn, Jesus being the firstborn, means that he is first created.
And so in their book Reasoning from Scriptures, it says, thus he is shown to be a created being, part of the creation produced by God. Jesus is not equal with God. He is not equal with Jehovah in the Jehovah’s Witness viewpoint. He is a prophet. He is, you know, has elements of the divine, but he is not God. And this is an extremely important distinction between Christianity and Jehovah’s Witness theology. Another thing to know about Jehovah Witness theology is that their particular Bible version, this would be the New World Translation NWT, actually changes the verses that refer to Jesus deity. So I’m gonna give you a few examples here.
Matthew twenty eight seventeen says, and when they saw Jesus, they worshiped him, but some doubted. But in the new world translation, it says, when they saw Jesus, they did obeisance, but some doubted. And so they’re obscuring, they’re limiting, lowering the meaning here. In John one, our bibles say in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. But in the new world translation, it says, in the beginning, the word was and the word was with God and the word was a God. One little letter changes the meaning of the sentence. John eight fifty eight, Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. This statement got him nearly stoned to death.
And in the new world translation, it says, Jesus said to them, most truly I say to you before Abraham came into existence, I have been. So slight changes again in this one. John fourteen eleven, I am in the father and the father is in me. But in the new world translation it says, I am in union with the father and the father is in union with me. So this slight adjustment can change it from him being in the father, which means him being in essence, like, united in the father and being in union with the father seems like it’s not that different, but it is because when you say in union, that could just be mentally in union. That could be, you know, emotionally in union. Whereas Jesus was saying, I am the father. I am united with him completely in essence in divinity.
In John twenty twenty eight, Thomas says, answers Jesus, my lord and my God. And this is an interesting note. So this was the one verse that hasn’t been changed in the new world translation surrounding Jesus accepting worship. It’s the same in the new world translation. My lLord and my God. And this declaration of Jesus deity was not caught and edited away, which is so interesting. So there are several other instances of this. There are instances, for instance, Colossians two nine where Paul says that in Christ, all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form.
But instead in the new world translation, it says it is in him that all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily. Again, slight change, very different outcome. And so when we are engaging with Jehovah’s Witness believers, what we’re engaging with is a newly packaged arianism. It’s just recycled in a new setting. Now there’s another belief system that also mimics Arianism and that is the Latter day Saint church. Some refer to them as Mormons. They do prefer to not be called Mormons. They prefer to be called Latter day Saints.
So that’s the terminology we’ll use. And I’m going to be, for this section, referring to this book in the Every Woman a Theologian shop. This is our Explore & Engage series on world religions by Jeremy Jenkins of All Things All People. This is our brief Christian guide to fundamental Latter day Saint beliefs. And so if you want to know how to understand LDS theology, the differences between the LDS church and Christianity, this little book is in the Every Woman A Theologian shop if you go to phyliciamasonheimer.com/books. We are producing an entire series with Jeremy Jenkins. This is only the beginning. We have Wicca and Neo Paganism coming out in summer twenty twenty five.
So be sure to be on our email newsletter so that you can catch that when the Wicca and Neo Paganism book comes out. So this little book talks about all of the history of LDS theology and an intro to LDS theology and then at the second half explains the differences. And I want to read to you a section that Jeremy wrote in here about how latter day saints mimic Arianism from the first couple centuries of the church. Quote, latter day saints reject trinitarianism as the church has understood it since its earliest days, most notably defended by the Council of Nicaea in March. Jesus, the Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost are believed to be three separate entities, unified not in essence or substance, but in mission and purpose. Latter day Saints interpret most instances, especially in the Old Testament, of God being called Jehovah as referring to Jesus. Pause. This is a difference between Jehovah’s Witness theology and LDS theology.
So Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jehovah is the accurate name for God the father in the bible. Okay? And that’s where they get their name, Jehovah’s witnesses. But in LDS theology what Jeremy is saying here is that God being called Jehovah is referring to Jesus. So just keep those two distinct in your mind. Since they believe Elohim, heavenly father, utilized Jehovah, Jesus, as the primary agent of creation, Old Testament references to God as father also primarily refer to Jesus. Yet Latter day Saints insist these passages do not imply oneness and essence between Elohim and Jehovah. Instead, they refer to Jehovah’s role as creator and sustainer of this world. This places Latter-day Saints into a category known as Arianism, the belief that Jesus is a created being and therefore not equal to God, a belief wholeheartedly rejected by the early leaders at Nicea.
In LDS theology, Jehovah became Jesus the Christ through volunteering as the firstborn spirit child of Elohim. Interestingly, another intelligence volunteered but was rejected in favor of Jehovah. This alternative volunteer was Lucifer who went on to become Satan. The LDS scripture, the book of Abraham, details this moment. And the Lord said, whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the son of man, here I am, send me. And another answered and said, here I am, send me. And the Lord said, I will send the first. End quote.
So this means that Jesus then is sub-sub divine. He’s not equal with God. He’s a creation of God and he’s actually even battling with Lucifer for this role which is so interesting as well. This affects how LDS believers see the atonement. It affects the Trinity. It affects all of the basis and foundation for Christian theology and therefore cannot be called Christian theology. Again, this is Arianism. It is from the first couple centuries of the church.
It is not new. It’s just repackaged. I want to also read this quote by Brigham Young who offers, according to Jeremy, a more logical conclusion regarding the work of Jesus and the need for a separate redeemer for each sphere of existence. So remember, there are multiple spheres of existence in LDS theology. There’s not just Earth, there’s also many other worlds that exist. Here’s what he says, quote, every world has had an Adam and an Eve. Named so simply because the first man is always called Adam and the first woman Eve. And the oldest son has always had the privilege of being ordained, appointed and called to be the heir of the family family if he does not rebel against the father and he is the savior of the family.
Every world that has been created has been created upon this same principle. Consequently, every earth has its redeemer and every earth has its tempter and every earth and the people thereof in their turn in time receive all that we receive and pass through all the ordeals that we are passing through. End quote. Again, that was Brigham Young. So what is being said here is that Jesus was just one of many saviors in many different worlds. And that what has happened in our world is being repeated in every other universe and world and sphere that exists. Jesus is not that special. He is a savior, but he is not the savior.
So in both LDS theology and in Jehovah’s Witness theology, we have this Arian view of Christ as first created but not equal with God. So what was the consequence of this? Well, total uproar in the Roman Empire. And any good emperor doesn’t want to see his entire empire in uproar and chaos. That’s not good for your reputation. It’s not good for the peace and economic unity of the empire. And so Constantine decides to do something about this. Now I don’t believe that Constantine was a Christian, at least until the end of his life, maybe. If he was a professing believer, we know that he possibly got baptized.
Unite the empire. When you read the account of Constantine in Eusebius’ church history, I have it on the shelf back here, you see how much of it is extremely dramatized. And it makes you wonder, you know, I was this sincere or was Constantine doing this for the good of the empire? Either way, God uses the political actions of kings and leaders to accomplish his purposes even if their motives are impure. And that’s what happened here. So in March, Constantine calls for a council of the church in the city of Nicaea. And all the bishops of the church are called from around the empire to settle this issue. So this would have been the East and the West before they split in October. The Latin speaking speaking church, the Roman church, and the the Greek speaking church, the Orthodox church split in half into the RCC and the Eastern Orthodox.
But at this point, they would have been united. And so they come to Nicaea. They assemble to settle this issue and they address Arianism. And at this council, they denounce Arianism as heresy and begin to work on creating a creed, a mutually agreed upon statement of faith that outlines the beliefs of the church. And so as we wrap up this episode, I’m gonna read for you the Nicene Creed. Now many of us do know the Nicene Creed if you grew up in a liturgical church setting where you read it aloud, but unfortunately, many evangelicals in nondenominational churches, southern Baptist churches, charismatic churches don’t read or recite the Nicene Creed. They’re not actually familiar with it at all. And so I’m going to read it it to you today.
And I’d love if, as I read this, you could close your eyes and listen because this is an ancient statement of faith that is a part of your church history. The legacy of your family of faith that outlines who Jesus was, why he came and what he did. I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through Him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic church. I can fast one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. This is the Nicene Creed, and this creed was established in 03/25 so that the church could affirm what was true in the face of the falsehoods about Jesus deity. And so when you hear these untruths and false teachings about the nature of Jesus, you can practice loving and gracious discernment using what we know from church history, what we know from scripture, what we know from Jesus’ own words in the gospels where where he testified to his divinity. And you can gently and graciously communicate those truths to the people who are teaching arianism in a new and repackaged way.
As always, thank you for enjoying this series. If you are, feel free to subscribe, comment, and share. We so appreciate your reviews on iTunes and on Spotify. It helps us reach more people with the good news of the gospel and the truth of church history. If you want to learn more about the history of the LDS church and the differences between Christianity and LDS theology, be sure to grab our Explore and Engage book in the Every Woman a Theologian shop. If you would like to do one of our verse by verse bible studies, you can grab those there as well. And feel free to peruse our hospitality and kids discipleship sections as well. I’ll see you next week on Verity podcast.